1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a spinal implant assembly for holding adjacent vertebral bones fixed. More particularly, this invention relates to a novel assembly of bone screws and plates for use in surgical procedures for stabilizing the relative motion of, or permanently immobilizing, vertebral bodies, wherein the screws form a polyaxial coupling of the plate to the bone, and which maintains a flush exterior plate surface through a wide range of entrance angulation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The bones and connective tissue of an adult human spinal column consists of more than 20 discrete bones coupled sequentially to one another by a tri-joint complex which consist of an anterior disc and the two posterior facet joints, the anterior discs of adjacent bones being cushioned by cartilage spacers referred to as intervertebral discs. These more than 20 bones are anatomically categorized as being members of one of four classifications: cervical, thoracic, lumbar, or sacral. The cervical portion of the spine, which comprises the top of the spine, up to the base of the skull, includes the first 7 vertebrae. The intermediate 12 bones are the thoracic vertebrae, and connect to the lower spine comprising the 5 lumbar vertebrae. The base of the spine is the sacral bones (including the coccyx). The component bones of the cervical spine are generally smaller than those of the thoracic spine, which are in turn smaller than those of the lumbar region. The sacral region connects laterally to the pelvis. While the sacral region is an integral part of the spine, for the purposes of fusion surgeries and for this disclosure, the word spine shall refer only to the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar regions.
Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, a typical vertebral body is shown in a top view and a side view. The spinal cord is housed in the central canal 10, protected from the posterior side by a shell of bone called the lamina 12. The lamina 12 has three large protrusions, two of these extend laterally from the shell and are referred to as the transverse process 14. The third extends back and down from the lamina and is called the spinous process 16. The anterior portion of the spine comprises a set of generally cylindrically shaped bones which are stacked one on top of the other. These portions of the vertebrae are referred to as the vertebral bodies 20, and are each separated from the other by the intervertebral discs 22. Pedicles 24 are bone bridges which couple the anterior vertebral body 20 to the corresponding lamina 12 and posterior elements 14, 16.
The spinal column of bones is highly complex in that it includes over twenty bones coupled to one another, housing and protecting critical elements of the nervous system having innumerable peripheral nerves and circulatory bodies in close proximity. In spite of these complications, the spine is a highly flexible structure, capable of a high degree of curvature and twist in nearly every direction.
Genetic or developmental irregularities, trauma, chronic stress, tumors, and disease are a few of the causes which can result in spinal pathologies for which permanent immobilization of multiple vertebrae may be necessary. A variety of systems have been disclosed in the art which achieve this immobilization by implanting artificial assemblies in or on the spinal column. These assemblies may be classified as anterior, posterior, or lateral implants. As the classification suggests, posterior implants are attached to the back of the spinal column, generally hooking under the lamina and entering into the central canal, attaching to the transverse process, or coupling through the pedicle bone. Lateral and anterior assemblies are coupled to the vertebral bodies.
The region of the back which needs to be immobilized, as well as the individual variations in anatomy, determine the appropriate surgical protocol and implantation assembly. The use of screw plate assemblies for stabilization and immobilization via lateral or anterior entrance is, however, common.
Because the spine is routinely subject to high loads which cycle during movement, one of the primary concerns of physicians performing spinal implantation surgeries, as well as of the patients in whom the implants are placed, is the risk of screw pull-out. Screw pull-out occurs when the cylindrical portion of the bone which surrounds the inserted screw fails. A bone screw which is implanted perpendicular to the plate is particularly weak because the region of the bone which must fail for pull-out to occur is only as large as the outer diameter of the screw threads. It has been found that for pull-out to occur for a pair of screws which are angled inward, "toe nailed", or ones which diverge within the bone, the amount of bone which must fail increases substantially as compared to pairs of screws which are implanted in parallel along the axis that the loading force is applied. It has, therefore, been an object of those in the art to provide a screw plate assembly which permits the screws to be entered into the vertebral body at angles other than 90 degrees.
A great concern, however, with screws being implanted in the anterior portion spine, most particularly in the cervical spine, is that their are important internal tissue structures which, because of their proximity to the implant, may be damaged by a dislocated screw. In the cervical spine, the esophagus is located directly in front of the anterior surface of the vertebral body, and therefore, in potential contact with an implanted cervical plate. Breaches of the esophageal wall permit bacterial contamination of the surrounding tissues, including the critical nerves in and around the spinal cord. Such contamination can be fatal. Because screw pull-out represents one of the largest risks of esophageal perforation, it has been an object of those in the art to produce a cervical screw plate design having a locking means which couples, not only the plate to the bone, but locks the screw to the plate. In such a design, it is intended that, even if the bone holding the screw fails, the screw will not separate from the plate.
In addition to pull-out, however, it has been observed that if the screw plate design includes screw heads which protrude beyond the exterior surface of the plate, long term wearing of surrounding tissues may occur, leading to the development of abscesses and holes, which, once again, can have grave consequences. With respect to cervical plates, which are necessarily thin, on the order of a few millimeters, unless the system is designed to specifically accommodate non-perpendicular screw-in directions, the heads of the screws which are desirably toe-nailed in are a considerable risk.
Similar concerns exist in the thoracic and lumbar regions with respect to anterior and lateral fixation implants as their are proximally located organs as well as a plurality of major blood vessels which may be compromised by either catastrophic screw pull-out and/or long term wearing of non-flush surface protrusions.
One screw plate design which has been offered to provide physicians and patients with a reduced risk of pull-out or damage to proximal tissues is the Orion (Reg. Trademark) Anterior Cervical Plate System of Sofamor Danek USA, 1800 Pyramid Place, Memphis, Tenn. 38132. The Orion.sub.TM system teaches a plate having two pair of guide holes through which the screws are inserted to fix the plate to the vertebral body. The plate further includes external annular recessions about each of the guide holes which are radially non-symmetric in depth. More particularly, the annular recessions serve as specific angle guides for the screws so that they may be inserted non-perpendicularly with respect to the overall curvature of the plate. In addition, the Orion.sub.TM plate includes an additional threaded hole disposed between each of the pairs of guide holes so that a corresponding set screw may be inserted to lock the bone screws to the plate.
Although the Orion.sub.TM system achieved certain advantages over prior cervical screw plate assemblies, it is not without failures. Specifically, a given plate can accommodate only one screw-in angulation per hole, preferably in accordance with the angle of the annular recession. This is undesirable, in that physicians often must inspect the vertebral bodies during the implantation procedure before making the decision as to which screw-in angle is the ideal. By forcing the physician to chose from a limited set of angles, it is unavoidable that physicians will be forced to implant plates having screws which were positioned non-ideally. While providing a variety of plates having different angle guide holes and annular recession orientations is possible, the complexity and expense of providing a full spectrum of plates available in the operating room for the surgeon to choose from is undesirable. It is a failure of the system that one plate cannot accommodate a variety of different screw-in angles.
It is further a failure of the Orion.sub.TM system that an extra set screw is required to lock the screw to the plate. Plates for use in the cervical spine are very thin, and if the screw head already rests in an annular recess, and there is to be enough room for the head of the set screw to rest on top of the head of the bone screw, the thickness of the remaining plate must be reduced even further. The thinner the plate is at the load bearing points--the guide holes--the weaker the plate is overall.
While the preceding discussion has focused on a specific cervical screw plate system and its failures, the same failures apply to the art of vertebral immobilizing screw plate systems which are presently available as well. There are no presently available screw plate assemblies which present a flush surface and provide for means of preventing both screw pull-out from the bone and screw backout from the plate, while simultaneously providing for a wide range of angulation for the bone screws.
An additional concern for physicians who implant screw plate assemblies for spinal fixation is proper alignment for pre-drilling of the holes into which the bone screws are driven to hold the plate. As suggested above with respect to the angulation of the annular recesses of the Orion.sub.TM system, the process of forming the holes generally involves placing the plate against the appropriate vertebral bodies and using a guide to hold the proper angle with respect to the plate and bone as a drill is used. The difficulty in this process involves slippage at the interface between the unsecured plate and the bone. To avoid slippage, the surgeon is generally required to use, simultaneously, a plate holding mechanism, which may be removable affixed to the plate, to maintain the plate in its proper position, a drill guide to set the desired angulation (which is set by the thread angle of the plate), and the drill itself. It is understood that simultaneous manipulation of these three tools by the surgeon is tedious and difficult.
It is therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a new and novel cervical, thoracic, and/or lumbar screw plate design having a polyaxial coupling of the screw to the plate, whereby a single plate is compatible with a wide range of screw-in angles.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a screw plate design having a flush exterior while being fixed to the vertebral bodies which it immobilizes; having no screw head protrusion despite non-perpendicular angulation.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a spinal insert assembly which is more sturdy and more versatile than previous designs.
Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a screw plate design which provides the surgeon with the greatest freedom to choose the most desirable angle to direct the bone screw.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an orthopedic screw plate assembly which has a simple and effective locking mechanism for locking the bone screw to the plate.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a screw plate assembly which has a simple and effective means of holding the plate in position for the pre-drilling of screw holes.
Other objects of the present invention not explicitly stated will be set forth and will be more clearly understood in conjunction with the descriptions of the preferred embodiments disclosed hereafter.